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$9.2m Found in Ex-NNPC GMD Andrew Yakubu Kaduna Home

Mr. Ibrahim
Magu, Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on
Thursday told a committee of the House of Representatives that $9.2 million and
750,000 pounds were recovered from a residence in Kaduna state.

Although he
did not indicate precisely when the raid by EFCC operatives was carried out,
NAN has learnt that the foreign money was recovered in the home of Andrew
Yakubu, a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation.

The huge
money, which is in excess of N3 billion by official exchange rate, was the
largest ever recovered by the agency in recent weeks.

Magu also
disclosed to the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes that N1.25
billion was recovered from a public servant, all in the last two weeks.

Yakubu, who
served as GMD between 2012 and 2014 is already facing trial for money
laundering.

He was charged
by the EFCC in June 2016.

Magu was at
the House of Representatives to present an appraisal of the Commission’s2016
budget performance and also defend 2017 budget.

He said the
commission recovered N102.91 billion, 8.30 million dollars, GBP 29,155, 12,475
pounds, 117,004 Canadian dollars as proceeds of crime between January and
December, 2016.

Other monies
recovered during the period, he said, were 806.50 Dirham, 5,000 Francs and
2,000 Rupees.

“Out of the 37
accounts frozen/forfeited, six banks are yet to provide relevant information on
the amount accrued into the suspected accounts within the period under
review,’’ he said.

The document
revealed that the commission secured 135 convictions, out of which 46 were from
Lagos zone, 30 from Abuja zone, 22 from Port Harcourt zone, 19 from Kano zone,
15 from Enugu zone and three from Gombe zone during the period.

Magu
acknowledged the support of the committee towards fast-tracking completing of
EFCC headquarters in Abuja.

He disclosed
that the Federal Ministry of Finance had listed the payment of N1.8 billion out
of N2.9 billion meant for completion of the headquarters.

He, however,
added that the commission had resuscitated its offices in Kaduna, Ibadan, Benin
and Maiduguri as part of efforts to boost its operations across the country.

Magu urged the
legislature to support the fight against graft, saying “corruption is fighting
back”.

On
recruitment, he said that the commission only recruited 331 cadets on equal
quota basis across the country except Lagos, Ekiti, Bayelsa and Rivers with
lower numbers.

In a breakdown
of the 2016 budget of the commission, Magu told the committee that total
budgetary approval was N18.89 billion, but that N14.74 billion representing
78.04 per cent was released.

He explained
that N7.62 billion was for personnel cost, overhead was N2.75 billion while
capital expenditure was N8.49 billion for the year.

Magu added
that 91.1 per cent component of the released funds had so far been utilised.

Earlier,
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Kayode Oladele, said that Nigeria had applied
to join the league of members of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an
international anti-corruption agency.

He said that
the move was part of efforts to strengthen ongoing anti-corruption crusade in
the country.

Oladele, who
lauded the development, expressed optimism that Nigeria would be admitted as
“Observer Member’’ by the end of the year and would become full-time member in
the nearest future.

NAN

$9.2m Found in Ex-NNPC GMD Andrew Yakubu Kaduna Home
Reviewed by Oluwaseun Bello
on
February 10, 2017
Rating: 5